Tag: grammar tips

This one is a personal pet peeve of mine. I see people use alright all the time. Technically, it is not a word. It is a misspelling of all right. Every time I see it I want to scratch it out and write it correctly.

For language geeks like me, it is with great trepidation that I learned that alright is mildly acceptable in British English along the fringes. Eeek. Thank you to Grammar Girl for enlightening me on this one. According to her site, the American Heritage Guide to Contemporary Usage and Style says it is unacceptable in one place, yet in another states that it means satisfactory. Huh? Looks like we’re in for a gradual change here in America, too… though I don’t have to like it.

These two words are often confused with one another. Since I know a lot of people in the childbirth field, I see these words a lot. Not even all the birth people use them correctly, which surprises me a bit.

Breach

A breach is a gap in something or a violation of something. To breach something is to break, break through or break open something.

They were in breach of contract.

The enemy attempted to breach the castle walls.

Breech

A breech is the back or lower end of something.

The baby was breech; the midwife could see his bottom emerging first.

Yes, there is only one letter difference between these two words, but as you can see, they mean completely different things. Granted, you could use breach in reference to birth, but it certainly wouldn’t mean the same thing as a baby being born bottom first.

The obstetrician created a breach in the mother’s belly when he performed the cesarean.

Do you use who or whom? There is a lot of confusion about these two pronouns. The answer is you use who if it refers to the subject of the sentence and whom if it refers to the object in the sentence. Clear as mud, huh? It may be hard to remember those days of diagramming sentences in English class (do they even do that anymore?), but actually this is quite simple.

Who

When you’re using who, the person you’re talking about is the one doing something in the sentence.

Who cleaned up the table?

Whom

When you use whom, you are talking about someone as the object in the sentence.

Georgia invited whom?

Georgia is the subject of the sentence, and whom is the object because you want to know who she invited.

Quick Trick

If you can restate the sentence using the words him or her, use whom.

Georgia invited him.

Remember the m on the end of both him and whom and you’ll do all right.